2020 Content: Year in Review
With more time to myself this year I upped my consumption. More reading, watching, listening, and learning. Here lies a list of my best in show for 2020. I hope you find something new and interesting in this list. I’d love to hear yours.
🗞 Story: The jungle prince of New Delhi — Ellen Barry
An epic tale of a lost kingdom in North India and its peculiar royal family. The kind of investigative journalism that makes you want to drop everything and post up in some far corner of the world. On the hunt for a story like this one — stranger than fiction.
But, every few years, the family agreed to admit a journalist, always a foreigner, to tell of their grievances against the state. The journalists emerged with deliciously macabre stories. In 1997, the prince and the princess told The Times that their mother, in a final gesture of protest against the treachery of Britain and India, had killed herself by drinking a poison mixed with crushed diamonds and pearls.
Consume it here.
📺 TV: The Loudest Voice — Showtime
A seven-part screen adaptation of the book by Gabriel Sherman. Chronicling the rise of Fox News and fall of its founder, Roger Ailes. Bombshell focused on the myriad allegations of sexual assault and harassment. Whereas this series goes deep on how exactly the toxic Ailes’ managed to build the United States’ most watched TV network. Come for Russell Crowe’s outstanding portrayal. Stay to witness a story where Rupert Murdoch is pretty much the good guy.
We need to drive the news, not just cover it.
Consume it here.
💿 Album: We Will Always Love You — The Avalanches
This is a generational album. The Avalanches are a childhood soundtrack band for me. Their 2000 debut, Since I Left You (in particular the brilliant Frontier Psychiatrist) epitomises nostalgia in my family. I was a little let down by their 2016 follow up. Though Wildflower has grown on me this year. But now we have it. We Will Always Love You. A breathtaking return to form. A concept album about interstitial and unconditional love Deeply moving. Brimming with the group’s signature bag of samples and a consort of collaborators. Like all the greats, best listened to in full. Cover to cover. Please, enjoy.
The light of my life, is going out tonight, in a pink champagne corvette. The light in my life, is going out tonight, without a flicker of regret.
Consume it here.
📚 Book: Chaos Monkey: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley
A chaos monkey is a software bug set on a network to wreak havoc and test for vulnerability and recovery. García Martínez journals his similarly chaotic journey through the engine-room of the online world. Informative and superbly written, yes. But it’s the hilarity and self-deprecation which make this a great holiday read. These are not the customary descriptors for the bay area’s tech elite. I did hesitate to recommend this as I found hints of bro-culture (see: misogyny) both in the writing and the story. On this note, Martínez says “the book isn’t nice because Silicon Valley isn’t a nice place”.
Truth in the world resides only in mathematical proofs and physics labs. Everywhere else, it’s really a matter of opinion, and if it manages to become group opinion, it’s undeservedly crowned as capital-T Truth. And so you need to determine whatever the local version of truth is you’re inhabiting.
Consume it here.
📽 Movie: Soul — Disney and Pixar
My favourite film of the year came in the last week. If you have been under a rock (or a food coma), Pixar’s latest film Soul dropped on Christmas day. New York City jazz musician Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is one big break away from changing his life. As is the norm for Pixar these days — particularly director Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out) — the film explores mature themes like death, loneliness and mental-health in a family-friendly fashion.
It’s worth watching a new Pixar film every couple of years to see computer animation advance, if nothing else. And this one is a joyful assault on all senses. Especially the ears. The original score from Jon Batiste (doing the jazz stuff) and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (doing the other stuff) is excellent. This was Pixar’s first movie with an African American main protagonist.
Consume it here.
P.S. — I am glad Soul came out this week as I didn’t see many show-stopper films this year. Though my dad swears David Byrne’s American Utopia is a masterpiece.
🔈 Gig: The Free Nationals Feat. Anderson .Paak, Chronixx & India Shawn — NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
I’m still undecided on whether ‘virtual gigs’ is in the 2020 winners or losers column. Watching video of a live show is nothing new. But this year it became the only live music option for many. One thing is clear. While there is no online substitute for the euphoria of live music, some formats prove better than others. For me, a virtual gig that has been through heavy post-production is already dead (sorry Powderfinger). The beauty of live music is right there in the name: liveness. The danger and spontaneity. The rawness and risk. No one translates this better to screen than NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. Jammed into a cluttered book shop, world-class artists like Ben Folds and the Wu-Tang Clan perform for 20ish minutes. Awkward banter between songs and all. Here was my favourite from this year.
Consume it here.
🎵 Song: Cruellest Cut — The Slingers
This track from Melbourne country-rock band The Slingers got the repeat treatment from my Spotify account this year. Give it a listen. Then get lost in the rest of their catalogue. For fans of Tom Petty, Paul Kelly and outback Australiana story-telling.
I’ve got a woman she’s a real wildflower, blooms by night and paid by the hour.
Consume it here.
🗣 Podcast: Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze — Broken Record with Rick Rubin
On Broken Record, Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond have long form conversations with great musicians. They talk passion and the creative process. And the quirks of artistry. If you don’t know Rick Rubin, you probably do. A giant in music recording. Rick has worked with everyone from Run-DMC and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers to Santana and Adele. Before all of that he was the Bestie Boys’ DJ. In this episode he re-connects with Mike D and Ad-Rock from the Beasties. If 80s hip hop is not your jam, look through the other episodes. Like Rubin’s catalogue, chances are your favourite artist is in there.
